Remove yourself from love lover and crush calculator txts

It’s strange, but this post on Love Calculator that I wrote months ago consistently gets a few views every day. It even seems to be growing.

It seems that our scamming friends are wandering the world. Just this week there have been a comment from the UK (a 14 year old girl) and a ‘contact me’ from Canada (a guy) from folk asking how to be removed. So I thought I’d dig in a little, find out more about these expensive love calculators and determine how to remove yourself from their services.

Meanwhile Google ads for these calculators are well in swing over here in Australia – Google, you are not doing yourselves any favours by taking money from people that scam 14 year old girls..

But first – not only are the lover calculators geographically spread, they also vary in look. The original look and feel (well when they started their dodgy NZ Google ads) was this:

Which has now turned into this, which is actually a big usability improvement for the primary goal of delivering expensive TXTs:

That purple bit is the T&C’s sentence stating how much this will charge your cell phone, and was emphasised no doubt because of the ASA finding. Purple on blue is better, I suppose, than blue on blue. White on blue would have been better.

You can also find this look in Canada (and elsewhere) – where about half of the text below the fold is highlighted, but the amount they charge you is lost in all the boldness and blue on blueness.

Here’s one from the USA. It’s a different look, but the same old scam:

and there is also this other look – this one from Australia

These looks are, I guess, constantly updated and are, I know, available at a mixture of domain names. I can’t find the UK offering.

So – below the fold is what I found – how much you get hit for and how to remove yourself by country. The worst is Australia, where you get whacked for $26.60 straight away.

I’m not linking to these sites as I refuse to give them the Google juice

<update – check the comments – all the number’s you need are there>

<update 2 – more sites that can help. These scammers change their operating names all the time>

Class Action Connect – for those that want revenge. Get enough sotries and some lawyers may take interest. Personally I think this is an easy win for a US based class action suit, but it is really hard to hit them across all jurisdictions.

Zhenya Tsvetnenko’s the guy behind it all – he’s a Russian expat that has made a fortune.

Here are sites that I’ve seen, along with stop codes. In all cases simply google the stop code, or if you know the site go there, read the fine print (you may need to highlight it to make it readable) and send STOP to the number shown. You can also go to mobilemessenger.com and call the customer help numbers on their site. Demand your money back.

Wow – Is this even ethically legal?? I’d be surprised if it were. Don’t you need to actually confirm authorization of any precise charges in a REALLY LUCID AND OBVIOUS manner?

I didn’t think it would hurt to give it a try, but thank God for this website. I’m finally officially removed.

I’m already financially unstable and completely in debt and now I’ve lost another bit unethically to the deceitful and exploitive scam of some random, scheming, socially-selfish/immoral and illegit “company”?

For the strong and much needed sake of principle, is there any way we can get our money back? And once again, HOW IS THIS EVEN ETHICALLY LEGAL?

Thanks for the info on how to stop these bloody messages. I was just like Tim Laurie and was about to pull my hair out the next time i got a stupid message. Just like Tim, I didn’t even know that I’d subscribed to it, let alone one that cost money (an arm and a leg). Thanks so much!

thank you soo much!!
stupid company just sends you 4 texts at once, and then just assumes you have signed on to recieve weekly stupid fake msgs from them. And when you want to see the terms and conditions they dont even come up!!! it is the worst website and scam ever!!!

i phoned fido and found out that your phone number can be used to charge you. i can’t believe that!!! i am so naive. i am going to fight this. any suggestions for how i can best go about doing so would be appreciated.

I have read your comment on the rip-off case from a unwanted txt message subscription. What was the story after that? Have you gotten your money back? I have a same case from Fido, and am very mad and unhappy. After subscribing to the electronic bill service because Fido enforced it by adding more fee on paper bill receivers, I seldom look to the bills at all. Recently when I checked on the bill, I was very shocked! There was undescribed Event Charge approx. $50!! since January till now (which is June). The service agent said that I must have subscribed to an online service which I do not recall at all. The strange thing was that after I clicked on a Facebook service called Crush, I began to receive two SMS messages a day by which I was so annoyed. I could not guess that the message was actually linked to the Facebook Crush service which I could not remember when I clicked on it either. The fact is that I did not authorize Fido to collect money for the third party. Fido says that the company has to charge me because the third party charges Fido. I don’t think that’s the case. Fido must have been receiving some commissions from the third party to collect money on behalf of them. This is totally rip-off. Carl, share with us on what you have done so far.

Dude, do you realize there is a big old google ad on the front of your site with a ad for one of the things your spilling all this crap about, dude…

People post this nonsence and have no idea they are advertising for them (ah duh, if you type all that crap
ah? the search engine is going to take your keywords and place a big old fat ad on the front of your site for one).

I fell off my chair laughing after reading this crap…

Yes, them sites like that are crap but there are some fun ones thats how the original idea started.

Like lemme search for a few, ah lovecalculator.com and looks like iwuvu.com has a few of the real ones… that
do what they are suppose to do.

I understand you are under no control of the ads on your site but that was funny reading… get to the bottom and there is a big old google ad for one, your not going to link to them but your advertising for them and don’t even know it.

Hmmmm/much better
Funny.
Actually I have no control over the presence of Google ads – that is all done by WordPress.com, where this is hosted.
That said, I had understood that nobody was seeing any ads on WordPress.com, so you either saw a trial (good on you), the blog was in a frame provided by the acquiring site (there lots of RSS grabbers out there) or you have some spyware (not so good).
See if you can recreate it – and let us know. Alternatively grab a screenshot and I’ll publish it here.

Now the fun part, as she is under 16 and did not get my permission so now I can ask them to reimburse me.

Keep up the fight,

Ian

—————————————————————–
The whole message reads:

Hi,

Customer on mobile service 61XXXXXXXXX has been successfully unsubscribed from Premium SMS services.
Case no: YYYYYYY

Thank you,

Melissa Hanes
Customer Service Agent

MOBILEMESSENGER

P: +1300 766 915

E: escalations@mobilemessenger.com.auhttp://www.mobilemessenger.com
Mobile Messenger is one of the world’s leading Mobile Entertainment Enablers. Whether providing unique mobile content solutions or helping clients to mobilize existing content, Mobile Messenger delivers extremely effective tools and a variety of powerful, innovative, and “ready-to-go” revenue-generating solutions to help put our partners at the forefront of the emerging Mobile Industry.
This communication, including any attachments, is confidential and intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact me immediately by reply email, delete it from your system and destroy any copies. This email is subject to copyright. No part of it should be reproduced, adapted or transmitted without the prior written consent of the copyright owner. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Mobile Messenger group companies.

Hey I didn’t even sign up to the thing and just got a message from it giving me my code or something. No one else ever uses my phone or anything. I called the company and the machine unsubscribed me, but tell me how can it send this crap when you don’t even subscribe?

And does calling the company and getting an unsubscribed SMS off them gurantee me I’m off the hook?

After a couple of civil emails to Melissa Hanes of MobileMessanger’s Customer Service department about me not being entitled to a refund for a “service” I did not subscribe to, it’s now time to contact the Telecommunications Ombudsman (www.tio.com.au).

This is one story which has a happy ending. MobileMessanger are refunding the money they charged me for their “service” I didn’t subscribe to. Now I have another telephone number and email to share:-
JoVette Curtindolph
Customer Service Agent
MOBILEMESSENGER
P: +1 800 416 6129
F: +1 310 496 2873escalationsus@mobilemessenger.com

If you have been “got” by this lot, try emailling, faxing and calling these numbers and don’t forget to lodge a complaint with http://www.tio.com.au .

I signed up to this service in Australia and freaked out when i got my bill, i cost me $19.80! I called Telstra for more info, they explained that it wasn’t them doing the billing which was wierd as it was on my Telstra bill. they gave me another number to call which i did, 1300 767 306. I called these guys and they explained to me where i had signed up: http://www.thelovercalculator.com/au2/ (Which i did). They then explained that i received a PIN message with all the details including the price (i didnt read this text message but it was still on my phone- duh!!!) they explained that i then entered the PIN number into the site to confirm (i did) and got another message with all the details (i didnt read it, but looking through me messages, it is still there!)
They were pretty nice, but i still felt like a dumb ass after i got off the phone. They really just took advantage of me being to lazy to read me text messages. From the above comments, i would ask yourselves, are you pissed at the company or are you pissed at yourself for not reading the info like me?

this is stupid… i was wondering why my 3 account lost so many credit…..i didnt sign up …… this is sux……. i read from the web ” You may stop this subscription service at any time by sending a text message with STOP, to short code 19937339 “…. i hope this will stop this stupid credit eating machine…..i just msg the number.. it delivered… hope this stop…..

I was charged almost 40 CAD for that!!!!!!! I hate those people who made that website, why no one is doing anything from it? why isn’t this scam worldwide known? Gladly I phoned FIDO, and they paid me 1/2 of the money! Not completely satisfied , but well…they think it’s my fault.

i’ve been receiving msges from an unknown 19#. I have just received my phone bill and found out that i’ve been charged a total $54 in the past month for RECEIVING THESE MSGS!!! $4.50 each!! i sent STOP to one of the msges and they replied with a “you have been unsubscribed from you chance to win the JT experience on Nov13, don’t miss out reply WIN to keep you entry valid” … like WHAT!!! did i just get charged AGAIN for receiving THAT msg????

has anyone in aust been successful from texting STOP to short code 19900107 or 19937339 or 19796977??
my service provider gave me the contact no. of Mobile Messenger 1300 766 915 to dispute with them. my sp also said that if they do not refund the money, then they will dispute it on my behalf. which is good. i just want to be able to sort this out myself!

So, I felt bad about being so determined to achieve justice and then not doing anything. My first plan was a flop, so I just gave up. Anyway, I have a bunch of contact info that I wanted to share with everyone.

I am pretty sure that the law will provide protection for this kind of scam. Get in touch with the fair trading office in your state and also the ACCC plus tio. This site provides most of the contacts.

Definitely mention that this site was misleading and deceptive, that you had no intention to sign up to any paying service and that the basic elements of a contract are not fulfilled (ie you did not read any ‘offer’ and did not accept any ‘offer’, you had no intention to create legal relations) and also ask who to contact on the fraud squad of your state.

I saw a company like this successfully sued but also taken down by the fraud squad who put the guy in prison.

Also – some states have unfair contract terms and this company, even if you ever read their crap, does not meet the basic requirements for a consumer contract. Fight the good fight!!!!

At this stage I’m going to leave the names up there, as the depth of feeling on the blog is pretty strong, and clearly the publishing of the names has actually generated the first actions on your company’s part.

Instead I’d like you to join the conversation – work with the people that have commented to solve some of these issues that have been raised. It’s great, for example, to see that you have placed all of the CS numbers on your website and on the blog. What else are you doing to address the concerns above?

First let me say thanks for at least opening a dialog with on this topic.

Mobile Messenger is indeed very interested in resolving all complaints in a timely manner. Any consumer that makes contact with us via any of the methods listed is dealt with at a minimum 48 hours/2 business days. In fact most are done within hours if raised by email or immediately if via the phone. We are one of the very few, if not only Premium SMS providers with Customer Service departments located in locally with one in Sydney (takes are of AU, NZ and the UK) and the other in LA (takes care of US and CA).

With that said, please indulge me for a moment. I have spent considerable time over the past weeks searching and reading blogs and posting a similar response to the one that I posted on yours site yesterday. What I have seen though are typically a few people, with what would seam a genuine complaint but the most just providing misinformation and propaganda.

The mobile industry has become over the last 2 years an incredibly regulated industry, not only in NZ and Australia but also in the UK / Europe and the US and Canada. For us to operate in these geographies we need to be able to demonstrate adherence to all relevant codes of practice and regulatory requirements.

So in practice this means that for a subscription to be valid, the following must be typically (on average in most countries) adhered to (at a minimum):

1. Either a double opt in, meaning a user enters their mobile/cell in an website, then a unique 4 digit PIN is sent to the users mobile/cell (step 1), the user must then go back to the exact same PIN page and enter the PIN that was sent to their handset (step 2). This ensures that only the person in control of the handset can activate the subscription. Also of note is that the PIN page that opens after you enter your mobile/cell in directly linked to the PIN that is sent to your handset, so if you were to open say 2 browsers for the Love Calculator and put the PIN in the opposite page, IE put the PIN from page 1 into page 2 and the other way (even though it is a valid PIN) the page will not accept it.

2. A key word must be sent from the users handset to the advertised short code (this is called a Mobile Originator Opt in or MO opt in). Again this insures that the person must be in control of the handset to activate the subscription.

3. In all cases a Welcome message stating the terms and conditions, cost, frequency and how to find help and STOP must, and does immediately follow the subscription initiation.

So if we find any instance where these conditions have not been met we will in every instance offer the consumer a refund. BUT if we can prove that we have complied with the above then customer WILL NOT be offered a refund. If the issue is then escalated to the TIO or other regulatory body we will happily supply the logs (that are time stamped and not modifiable) which they accept and in 99% of cases close the investigation (allowing for 1% exceptions).

In summary please feel free to publish, this email as well as the contact details that I have already provided. Please note while will in every instance make every effort to resolve the complaint, for every 100 customers that contact us claiming an illegitimate subscription, less then 10 are actually entitled to any sort of refund. The only reason for this statement is to ensure that when consumers contact us they have a realistic expectation of the resolution of their complaint.

Thanks again, and I look forward to resolving any of your blog participants issues.

Has any one found a way to remove the Love Calculator pop up which attaches it’s self to IE. I have tried 5 different anti spyware programmes so far to no avail. AVG no good. Turned of Windows System restore and went through the same procedures including removing every temp file I could find. My system is on the highest level of popup block & cookie block. The Love Calculator is still there.

Would love to know if any one has this same problem & if a solution is available.

i hope that this love calculator will be stopped sending me any messages..in fact i haven’t registered my hp no for that purpose, and i was surprised when i received a lot of messages and also my bill mobile hp no for this month increased.

OMG! I am only 13 and I got in so much trouble when my parents got the cell phone bill I am so glad I found this site!! Whoever made this should be sued! Is it even legal? I didn’t even realize what I was doing until my parents got the bill! Thanks so much to the person who made this!

Well after a long sordid affair, I worked out that the pop ups on are because of a nasty spyware program called virtumonde, I used (the nasty advertiser :{ of love crush – LOL ) google to search for info and ended up at a fairdinkum site http://www.atribune.org/content/view/24/2/ which had a fix called Vundofix.exe it worked a treat after 2 restarts and no more problems with the love crush pop ups.

I hope this helps someone else here – I am glad I found your site Lance – True about Mac’s, unfortunatly I also running 2003 server and all the software(expensive) for windows – in for a penny in for a pound, maybe thousands :).

To Chloe in Australia, call 1300 766 915, if the hold music runs out, hang up and dial again; they hope you’ll give up and they can get some more cash out of you, but you’ll eventually get through. Make them block all their premium services to your number and get a receipt number for this. Then if you get anymore they have to do something about it.

To Michael Pajaczkowski
Global Contact Centre Operations Manager
MOBILEMESSENGER
Yes Michael, it’s all legal and above board of course, we’re all just stupid dummies for signing up to it and not reading the fine print – of course! I’m such a stupid person, how silly i feel… NOT!!!!

Michael, the websites you use are intentionally deceptive. Take perfectlover (.com.au) for instance. Any normal computer screen will not show the information at the bottom of the page that has the costs and what the scam is actually going to do if you follow the instructions, you have to scroll down to see this information and there is nothing to indicate on the visible page that you need to do this. By the time you get to the page where you have to type in the code to accept all this legally binding agreement, you have a clock timer telling you to submit the code within 2 minutes. This is the first time that a terms and conditions link is visible on the page using a standard screen. The check box to accept the t&C is already checked (surprise surprise). The T&C will come up in a small window if you click on the link, they are 7 A4 pages long! We’re supposed to read that in the 2 minutes I suppose?

This is not misinformation or false propaganda, it’s the facts, and the facts point to an unscrupulous and exploitative company – well, nothing new there. Mobile Messenger and James Hardie CEO’s probably have lunch together all the time. So what union covers your call center workers Michael? Bugger the TIO and the ACCC, the phone companies taking their cut and all the other capitalist dirt bags making money out of this scam. Let’s take it to the workers. It was the ACTU campaign that made Hardies pay (not that they’ve paid enough yet, but it’s a start), let’s get the unions in on this, then maybe we’ll get some satisfaction.

If you have had a bad experience with Mobile Messenger please report them. Visit this website: http://www.ic3.gov/

In terms of entering the information about the business, here is an example of what you could write.
Business Name: Mobile Messenger
optional (First Name: Michael)
optionasl (Last Name: Pajaczkowski)
optional Gender: male
Address: 2700 Colorado Ave #450, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (or any of the above addresses)
Phone number: the 800 number, (310)425-7331, or any other number you have for MM
web site: mobilemessenger.com or the site that you visited when “signing up” for the “service”

If you have had a bad experience with Mobile Messenger please report them. Visit this website: http://www.ic3.gov/

In terms of entering the information about the business, here is an example of what you could write.
Business Name: Mobile Messenger
optional (First Name: Michael)
optionasl (Last Name: Pajaczkowski)
optional Gender: male
Address: 2700 Colorado Ave #450, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (or any of the above addresses)
Phone number: the 800 number, (310)425-7331, or any other number you have for MM
web site: mobilemessenger.com or the site that you visited when “signing up” for the “service”

People there is one lesson I hope you all learned here.
You will never get something for nothing, NEVER. And no website will tell you your lovers name, if you believe in will you deserve to be ripped off.

I just saw this extremely scammy thing pop up and did a search for it, finding your site. It is quite ingenious in its evil deceptiveness. Obviously quite smart people were involved in its creation.

My version has, on black on dark blue type, the following:

“Prediction subscription sent to your cell for as low as $5.99/wk
See carrier spcific pricing in T&C below”

This text was barely readable on the upper right side of my screen, the side nobody look at. When you scroll down to the end you see terms and conditions in retina-scarring light blue on blue type. They clearly realize that if the people visiting their site understood the terms and conditions, nobody would sign up!

You click on your sex and then are asked to enter your cellphone number. At that point, I stopped since I knew that I might be initiating a bill.

Since the site is obviously deceptive in nature, it should be very easy to get the charges removed from your phone bill. I would do two things:

* Send the unsubscribe text message as outlined previously.
* Call your phone company or cellphone carrier. You have a relationship with them and they don’t want to make you angry. So don’t be afraid to call your phone company’s billing department on scams like this. Explain that you were scammed and accidentally activated this service. They will look at your previous billing records and if they are clean the charges will be reversed and – best of all – they will withhold payment to the people providing the service. If enough people do this it will become unprofitable for your phone company to do the billing, and they will unceremoniously throw this evil company right on the street.

I do have a question for you folks who did do this. What did you expect to receive? The information on the site is maddeningly vague about what you get for “as little as $5.99/wk” which of course is $24 or more per month. So I’d love to knww what you folks got for your money. Could you spill the beans?

Thanks for creating this page and for warning us about the scam. I understood it was a scam from the start but it’s interesting to learn more about it and hear from people who were deceivedl

I am running Vundofix now. Hopefully it will find that evil spyware thing, which has been impossible to remove so far, and return back some sanity to my Windows computer.

I’m very glad my main computing platform is a Mac! No problems there, just as everyone else said :-). Unfortunately, I have to use Windows so I can see what IE does to mangle my web sites :-(.

wow i typed the number that was sending me this on a hunch into google and got this site- really helpful! they never tell you WHAT word to txt to be removed, nor removal instructions… i sent a msg saying “stop sending these messages” and still got it. i guess it’s a charecter recognition thing? anyway hopefully the annoying thing will stop now. never giving my mobile number to a website again!!!!

If you have charges on your cell phone bill for mobile content subscriptions and service (i.e., ringtones, text alerts, horoscopes, etc.) that you never authorized or ordered, you are surely not alone:

Believe it or not I’ve been recieving these ‘free’ Horoscope texts for quite some time oblivious to monies been stolen away from me. Being on poor side my prepaid account wasn’t prepaid often & I’m still learning how to use my mobile phone effectively. I’d been wondering if why does my credit vanish so quickly & feeling mentally alert when the next text came in I decided to check my mobile phone history as i’d just put a new prepaid in & i hadn’t sent any texts & there it was $6.40…gone! A search online immediately brought up this site where upon I replied STOP to the 19937339 number & now I’m crossing my fingers that that is the end of it…just in case I’m documenting everything. These are quite nasty sites praying on peoples vulnerabilities & sheer naivity…certainly leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Many thanks for this info. This site “jogged” our 12 yr old daughter’s memory of where she and friend entered her mobile number. After sms STOP she got text “leaving so soon” and encouragement to text again to another number. Then soon after she got another text this time from horoscopes (again she does not remember texting to) reply sms STOP to that too and got reply “subscription ended”. It is a worry that the possibility of numbers shared amongst these subscriptions.
I’m grateful for google and open forums like yours.

THANK-YOU SO MUCH i started to freak out a new cell and all these text be 1.25 each and 2text everyday my bill would have been outragous by the time i got my monthly bill. love u guys so much and again thank-you so much love always dianna

Thank you for your skill, documentation and for your integrity. I really appreciate your help. I think this thing has cost me about $100 when I thought it was free and each text they sent cost me ~$6. I haven’t received a reply from my “STOP” message yet. Does this mean they haven’t stopped?

Text horoscopes have been sent to my cell phone daily for the past couple of weeks, at a cost of $1.25 per day. I searched and searched to try to find how I had managed to sign myself up for that and couldn’t find anything. I then tried to text “stop” in a reply and received a message saying I wasn’t subscribed to any services. Next I tried sending a new text message to 33777 and again received the reply I wasn’t subscribed. I did a google search for “text 33777” and found a number of items of people trying to stop these texts and they were unsuccessful. I decided to contact my cell phone provider to see if they could block the source. I logged on to their website (Rogers, in my case) and went into the wireless area. There I found a section on fun with your mobile phone so I clicked on the link. Lo and behold, there was the link to the site I had mistakenly subscribed to. In the fine print it said to stop the messages to send a text to 33777 with “stop” and the service would be stopped. Since that had not worked for me I continued to the bottom of the fine print. It gave a toll free number to call to unsubscribe. I called the number and entered my cell number. It was computerized, and said that I would no longer receive anything from them unless I subscribed again. We will wait and see if that happens. I am writing this so that others will know where they might have signed up for the service and the number for Canadians to call to unsubscribe. I am not sure if this is the same for all cell phone providers or just Rogers. The toll free number it gave is 1-888-846-6939. It is also called “Crush Calculator.

I was cheated $40~!!! At first was 20 and i thought it was stopped after I sent them STOP and put credit in my phone but it continues~!!! And i lost another 20. I don’t dare to top up again. Is there anyway for a refund?

I just got suckered into one of these sites, I tried texting stop to 98651 and 75557. I live in philadelphia PA. I recieved a service is not available message back both times. Im not sure I did this right could you please help me.

my partner has had terrible difficulty with receiving premium sms messages from three companies, Maxitext, doctor love and love calc. he is ‘currently’ with optus on a pre-paid contract, and was receiving a minimum of 6 sms per week (sometimes up to 4 a day!) the situation stands that yes, he did initially ‘sign up for’ receiving a specific lovecalc sms reply (which calculations do actually get sent until 4 other irrelevant texts are received, which he also paid for) So, ‘stop’ was sent in a message, and no more texts were received. Yet magically, a few months later, msgs were received from the three different companies (listed above) including msgs containing the content of “Hot_babe_33” were received. you don’t have to be a genius or some kind of relationship with someone to work out the complications and heart ache that arise when your partner reads “hot_babe_33” when she is your hot babe! not to mention, the fact he never signed up for that specific ‘service’. My partner and i have spent the last two days on the phone and net investigating and demanding reimbursements from these unethical rip-off merchants. we have been successful with one company thus far, but are currently fighting the discrepancy between one companies charges and what optus are showing on his messaging records. We continue to go up the food chain of managers with the premium company, and even with an optus representative on a three way call, can not come to an accurate agreement. HOW THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS POSSIBILE? firstly, how does he suddenly sign up to three different premium companies with only one initial text? how do they hide in the shadows, after complying with the unsubscribing policy and then re-surface months down the track and bombard with unwanted texts when “stop” was sent?
i have become familiar with the “spam act of 2003” which states that: “In regards to the use of electronic email, text messaging and picture messaging, commercial messaging must be sent with the recipients CONSENT. it must contain clear and accurate information about the sender, and must contain the ability to unsubscribe from the message sent” NONE of these were abided by.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? i believe there is a potential breech of defamation of character, as he was never looking for pictures of Hot babes and never consented to receiving them. Not to mention the dispute between carrier and premium company of how many texts were sent. when reading what the ACCC have to offer for help, i have discovered that they receive 6000+ complaints per month, they only allow to place a complaint, you’d think by now (considering people have been complaining about this since at least before 2004) someone would be forming a serious legal suit against these premium companies. that is what our legal systems exist for, to resolve situations like this, is it not? Loopholes, red tape and fine print aside, if there is a way to scam, there should be a way to reimbursements and entire prevention of this happening to anymore people. Laws are changed and refined constantly to prevent scams like this, but it seems the law and those involved with it are not keeping up the pace. Perhaps all the partners of law firms have invested in mobile carries such as Optus who obviously make a buck at the expense of their customers?! COME ON AUSTRALIA PICK UP THE BALL, WHAT IS GOING ON? if anyone knows of anyone legally challenging this utter ridiculous situation please let me know, i’ll be right up there on the front line fighting for the rest of us.

thank you so much. i signed on to the iq quiz and have been losing so much money. those annoying ammazing facts took my money. im in the US and i tried texting STOP to the number they gave me but it didnt work. thank you for giving me the real number.

You’ve forgotten to take out the SMS charges from the Telcos, and to account for the very high drop-off rate once people see their bill/run out of credit and disconnect. We also need to account for the very high cost of the google/other ads that drive traffic to these dodgy sites.

But it’s still a great example of how much money is flying around in this racket, and why it is still going.

The ad providers, the Telecos, the ISPs that host these guys and the regulatory regimes are all complicit. Make it stop.
Lance

We at Mobile Messenger would like to assist you with your concern or complaint. If you need assistance in regards to being unsubscribed or other related issues, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please call 1-800-416-6129 Monday to Friday 0600 – 1800 US Pacific Time or email escalationsus@sms-helpdesk.com

Do ot text my cell phone anymore and I would like my account canceled that is billing my phone bill right now. my number was 333 4073. had to change phones due to this crap and they will not stop billing my old number until someone cancels the account so I want it to stop now. thank you

I received charges from the following,
PlayPhone Inc: Ringers – Playphone-rgr $14.99
Mobile Messenger: Alerts – 40544 Perfect Crush $9.99
SendMe Mobile: Alerts – Solow Auction $9.99
Sprint: Games – Bejeweled by EA $3.99
Celebrity Squares: Alerts – Celebrity Squaresalt $9.99
This went on for months, back to April 2009… Sprint did credit me for 2 months, so keep an eye on your cell phone bill.
This seems completely illegal. I was told that these scams “harvest” cell numbers from MySpace and FaceBook, and the “send your friend this quiz” type links. Never put your cell number into any form online, unless it is secure, like a credit card payment.
Someone needs to do something about this, where do we start?

Megan- The best way to get these to stop charging you is to contact your cell phone carrier. They should credit you back the charges, at least for 60 days, and they can put a third party block on your texts. This FINALLY worked for me.

Imagine, you receive your cell phone bill and it seems slightly higher than normal. You flip through the bill and notice a charge for some erroneous service you never subscribed to. So, you call your provider to dispute the charges and they tell you that ‘…you subscribed to this service and have been billed for it.’ They further state that they will not refund the charge because ‘…you subscribed to this service…’ This is what happened to me. Well, actually, they said as a ‘one time courtesy’ that they would credit the charge, but considering I never signed up for, nor requested the service, it’s not really a courtesy.
The customer service rep says to me ‘…I know how it happened to me. I was filling out a facebook questionnaire’ …and the fine print at the bottom says they will bill your phone X amount of dollars and cents. ‘Oh,” I said “that’s probably what I did.” Well, after a little investigation, I realized that that was not the case. Read on.
Here’s the kicker: I NEVER SUBSCRIBED NOR GAVE MY OK, –even accidentally, for this charge in question. My cell bill states: SendMe Mobile: Alerts –Solow Auction -12/26. This is a confirmation that it was not via a facebook or other online questionnaire, though I suspect that’s how they got my cell number, but it was a text message sent directly to my phone. I found that the suspect email was received on the very day that the charges were billed to my account. It read:
Text Message
From:
236-87
Message:
Win prizes playing SoLow! 20 guesses/day/game.
Reply HELP for help. $9.99/mo+ Msg&Data Rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel. Txt GAMES for prizes to win BIG!
Received on:
Dec 26, 09 4:38pm

I then checked my send messages for that day. I SEND NO MESSGES at all that day! So, how could I have been charged this service (which incidentally I never received any so called updates, what so ever) that I never confirmed –even by accident (cell in pocket can sometimes hit keys)? This basically means that this SoLow Auction company (own now by M-Qube) is committing fraud! The worst part is Sprint says they have no control over this practice and that I should report it to my local law enforcement!
I asked them to block SoLow Auction from their system entirely and again they opted to not do anything. Further they told me that there are just too many complaints and they can’t follow-up with all of them so they don’t follow up on any of them! What a joke! No wonder our economy is in such a shambles. Americans 50 years ago would never let something like this go unchecked. And we The People are the ones who pay for it all. Sad.
Researching this on the Internet revealed a long history of this company committing the same type of fraud over and over again. Changing their name or methods and billed amount. They are international in their fraud. What’s worse someone can fill one of these out for you and supply your cell phone number, without your knowledge, and voila you get charged and ‘you signed up for it’! Gone are the days of consumer protection. This is even easier than stealing your credit card! What a scam that would make. The moral of the story: We’re all in the wrong business! We should open our own ‘legitimate’ business and make a fortune! Lord knows no one will try to stop us.
In closing, I warn you not to fill out any online questionnaires that ask for your cell phone number. If it doesn’t result in an automatic charge, it just might supply some company with the means to bill you for services that you never asked for.

I NEVER approved services (of any kind) from this company (SoLow Auctions) yet it appeared on my cell bill as a charge. Sprint told me that I had subscribed to the service -which I had NOT EVER DONE SO.

The customer service rep says to me ‘…I know how it happened to me. I was filling out a facebook questionnaire’ …and the fine print at the bottom says they will bill your phone X amount of dollars and cents. ‘Oh,” I said “that’s probably what I did.” Well, after a little investigation, I realized that that was not the case. Read on.

Here’s the kicker: I NEVER SUBSCRIBED NOR GAVE MY OK, –even accidentally, for this charge in question. My cell bill states: SendMe Mobile: Alerts –Solow Auction -12/26. This is a confirmation that it was not via a facebook or other online questionnaire, though I suspect that’s how they got my cell number, but it was a text message sent directly to my phone. I found that the suspect email was received on the very day that the charges were billed to my account. It read:

I then checked my send messages for that day. I SEND NO MESSGES at all that day! So, how could I have been charged this service (which incidentally I never received any so called updates, what so ever) that I never confirmed –even by accident (cell in pocket can sometimes hit keys)? This basically means that this SoLow Auction company (own now by M-Qube) is committing fraud! The worst part is Sprint says they have no control over this practice and that I should report it to my local law enforcement!

I asked them to block SoLow Auction from their system entirely and again they opted to not do anything. Further they told me that there are just too many complaints and they can’t follow-up with all of them so they don’t follow up on any of them! What a joke! No wonder our economy is in such a shambles. Americans 50 years ago would never let something like this go unchecked. And we The People are the ones who pay for it all. Sad.

Researching this on the Internet revealed a long history of this company committing the same type of fraud over and over again. Changing their name or methods and billed amount. They are international in their fraud. What’s worse someone can fill one of these out for you and supply your cell phone number, without your knowledge, and voila you get charged and ‘you signed up for it’! Gone are the days of consumer protection. This is even easier than stealing your credit card! The moral of the story: We’re all in the wrong business! We should open our own ‘legitimate’ business and make a fortune! Lord knows no one will try to stop us.

In closing, I warn you not to fill out any online questionnaires that ask for your cell phone number. If it doesn’t result in an automatic charge, it just might supply some company with the means to bill you for services that you never asked for.

I was also advised not to even post my cell number on my facebook info tab because these fraudulent companies harvest our cell numbers from there as well. Just an FYI!!! Don’t out your cell number anywhere!

In February I noticed my cell phone had extra charges for the following transmitted calls. IN calls per my phone bill of AT&T
101-010-0001
101-010-0002
101-010-0003
101-010-0004
101-010-0005
101-010-0006
101-010-0007
010-010-0008
010-010-0009
Minute after minute……..As well as more from the individual who I was sending and receiving messages from. He is an International Journalist.
AT&T could not find the source of these transmissions. For me, it is an invasion of my privacy. I don’t understand..Can you help?